Armindia, circa 20 years ago...

The gushing waterfalls that normally filled the air with their song as they cascaded down and birthed the winding river that crossed the city of Crown Guard far below the mountainside were frozen silent in the cold winter's night. Glowing hearths, offering much needed warmth, radiated through the glass domed structures of the palace and city in stark contrast to the slush of sleet and rain that pounded against them. From the protruding palace terraces the slush accumulated then slithered down creating rivulets of icicles beneath them.

Despite it all, two knights of the queensguard flanked her chamber doors as unmoving as the statues that were interspersed throughout the grounds. They were silent sentinels in the howling night, but behind the queen's doors no figure rested soundly in fitful sleep. 

Away from any known corridors, a heavily hooded figure navigated expertly through the maze of hidden tunnels that created a cross section between the palace and the mountain. Guided but with a glow stone, the shuffling figure descended hurriedly to the last tunnel that led to the natural mountain passages.

Darkness was a suffocating mist that reached its tendrils to grasp at passing feet. The walls were ribbed with jagged edges and a multitude of protruding forms hindered any speed. Never wavering, the figure continued onward through the passages where time ceased to be marked.

The dank air of the caverns slowly began to shift. Moisture glistened in the walls as the light of the glow stone struck them and the air carried a hint of salt. In the distance, the soft rhythmic echo of the sea grew closer. Here the figure stopped.

Something was not right. It should have been here.

The hood was lowered to better study the walls of the passage, braided brown hair matted against ivory skin as the glow stone light bounced off green eyes sharpening in examination. A slender hand reached out to glide across the wall, feeling the prickling moisture gathering between each finger in search of a crevice. It would be unseen to any passerby shrouded in darkness and overlapping walls. Not that many knew of or traversed the secret passages of the mountain palace, let alone know where each one led.

In the days of her childhood, her mother, as had generations of mothers and daughters before her, had instructed her well in all the different paths and what lay deep within. But there had been more than one night in the past months that she had traversed these tunnels for a different purpose.

For a brief moment, panic swelled as one hand loomed high to cast light and the other skated frantically across the wall in desperate search. Years had passed since she'd last been in or seen the passage way she sought.  The knowledge of these passageways, every single one, was meticulously etched into her memory.. Even with disuse she knew it had to be here, and her hand continued to scrape against the stone wall until a sigh of relief was expelled.

Hidden amongst the uneven wall, a narrow tunnel twisted in its descend until it opened like a maw into a large cavern. In the light of the glow stone, shimmering stalactites ached to reach their waiting partners beneath them in mid embrace. In the deeper recesses of the cavern an entire wall had been hewed down to smoothness to accommodate runes that formed an archway crested atop  layers of stone like lapping waves as steps.

There: the Crossing stood in undisturbed slumber.

Slowly the figure climbed the steps to inspect the archway. The carvings were cut deep into the stone, but several of the runes were accompanied by oval indentations that were empty. Digging into a pouch hidden beneath the cloak, four runestones barely larger than coins were produced. On their own, they were unremarkable; smooth to the touch like a river stone and no thicker than a finger's width. Each was carved with a different rune for a different purpose.

They felt heavy in the woman's gloved hand. Perhaps it was doubt that weighed them down; but regardless, it had to be done. She took the first, old rose in color, and placed the Waking Stone in the lower left indentation. A faint cerulean glow emanated from the runes until it became a steady pulse as the doorway stirred to life.

Next came the Origin Stone, jade with the rune of Enju etched on it, and placed three runes above the Waking Stone. With each stone that was placed, she grew a little colder; as if the stones stole the warmth from her body to feed themselves.

Directly across the Origin Stone, on the other side of the arch, the hollow for the Cross Stone waited to be filled. Light spread and swirled across the archway with the setting of the Cross Stone, and the portal to Cross into infinite realms opened. All that remained to complete the Crossing was the Key Stone at the top of the arch.

There was a slight tremor in her hand as she reached to set the sapphire stone.

"You cannot mean to do this, my Queen!"

Startled by the familiar voice that pleaded with her, she clutched the Key Stone to her chest and whirled around. "Neera. How did you find me?" The queen stared at the woman who had been friend, confidant, and guardian to her for the past fifteen years. Little more than a decade separated them in age, but the bond they shared was as strong as blood.

"My ancestors built the tunnels that connect the palace to the mountain. Their secrets have passed through generations to protect the royal family in the act of service. I have patrolled the tunnels ever more frequently after the king's departure." The hand maid's raven hair matched the darkness behind her as she approached with a short staff pitted with a glow stone at its end.

Dressed in warm leathers for the winter's night and a knife at her waist, Neera stopped at the bottom of the staircase. The queen did not need more light to know the expression on Neera's face. Tan, taut skin rolled over angular cheeks into a wide bow shaped mouth with charcoal eyes shining bright with disapproval. "I had a feeling you were tempted to do this, but I did not think it would come so soon."

"You know."  There was no accusation. Still it was a matter of secrecy. 

"There is little you can hide from me, Anaryn."

Resolved, the queen cocked an eyebrow. "Then you understand why I must do this."

"No!" Neera rushed a few steps as the queen drew back, closer to the Crossing.

"You have a child of your own, would you not do this? Leith has taken our daughter through a Crossing away from me out of spite. I must find them and bring her back."

"But you are the queen, let others search for them."

"My scouts have already reported they are on Earth. But despite that, you know as well as I that Leith will listen to no one, least of all a summons delivered by a servant. It's been weeks since we've heard from him and over a month since I've seen her. I need my daughter. I will return once I have her." Not waiting for further argument, she turned to set the Key Stone.

"Are you so desperate that you would endanger one child for another?"

Neera had always been her conscience. The queen lowered her hand and clutched her stomach. Life stirred within her. "You know? Of course you do. You know everything then?"

"All but one: does the king know?"

A slight nod was given in answer as Anaryn turned into a huddled mass, but conviction erected her posture until she stood tall with her chin stuck out in defiance of the tears that swelled in her eyes. "He loves me Neera, and I've always loved him. I've done my duty, surely I can have this."

"But your actions, your decisions affect us all. Your duty—"

"Damn duty!" Tears of frustration and anger finally shed as her voice rang through the cavern and echoed. "This is no one's business but my own. For too long I have felt like a prisoner of my title, a pawn of the kingdom and not the queen, but no more."

With a few steps back she reached the Crossing, then raised her arm to the top of the archway and placed the blue stone with an Earth rune as the Key Stone. "I will find my daughter and have this child."

She threw the glowstone feverishly then removed a small vial from an inner pocket and drank its contents. "Do not worry for me, Neera." Queen Anaryn touched the locket that never left her side. "I have a way to come back home. I'll be back within a fortnight."

One more step and she was beyond the threshold, consumed in a vortex of silvery and iridescent light.

"My queen! Anaryn! Anaryn!" But there was nothing that the hand maid could do without a set of rune stones to return. Slowly the stones faded and dissolved, leaving Neera sobbing in despair as darkness encroached upon the cavern once more.

A/N:  Thank you for continuing The Crossing journey with Aurora and company.  Just to let you know that this is a second draft and there will be some errors, so please be patient or helpful in spotting them.